As we are starting our 10th school year, we wish to present our results and our current situation.

Our goal is unchanged: to provide a quality education to the children of Mbour (Senegal), and give an opportunity to the poorest, who for socio-economic reasons, have only a limited access to education. For children living in such areas, a good education is second only to food. Without it, there is no hope for a change in their lives.

Today, we serve more than 500 children, with no help save some of our friends' generosity. Despite the precarious financial situation, we have succeeded in keeping the classes' size under 35 and very often under 25. It helped maintaining a quality education and the results prove it with 100% success at the 5th grade exam and 80% at the 9th grade one. Some students have performed at even higher levels. One young boy in 5th grade was ranked 3rd at a regional spelling contest, while a 6th grade student was admitted at Mariama Ba, a free, very exclusive all girl school located on the island of Gorée.

This academic achievement was rewarded when the elementary school was ranked 3rd out of 195 schools in the district.

Our sponsorship program is also a success. When we started in 2008 with a small group of generous sponsors, we were able to help 18 children. Today, one student out of 4 is sponsored and more than 2/3 are girls, some of whom would not see the inside of a classroom otherwise. Thanks to the generosity of the growing group of sponsors, we were able to give these children a chance, and most of them have used the opportunity to reach the top of their class.

This is where our good news end. In order to keep the classes' size at a reasonable level, we had to rent more residential buildings made into makeshift schools. The rent market is very tight, with very few other options. To make the situation worse, the proximity of a tourist attraction fuels a real estate boom that could one day cost us our leases if our landlord decides to sell.

The only viable path to insure the school future is to have our own building. A few years ago, through our initiative 'One brick, one school' and thanks to the generosity of many among you, we were able to buy a piece of land where we could build one day. It is an ambitious and very expensive project, but do we really have a choice?

If, like us, you think we cannot abandon these children, can you help us? :